The Asia-Pacific region has been developing
stronger international transport links – with
increasingly coordinated development of both
railway and road networks.

The Intergovernmental Agreement on the
Trans-Asian Railway Network entered into force on
11 June 2009. This will facilitate coordinated
development of the network, which now comprises
114,300 kilometres of rail lines of international
importance. To date, 22 member countries have
signed the Agreement and 11 have already become
Parties.

Focus for future investment in the network is
now on the construction of the missing links which
total 8,200 kilometres for which an estimated $25
billion are required. The flagship investment
projects will be the building of the $32.3-billion
high-speed passenger line between Shanghai and
Beijing, due to open in 2012, and the construction
of dedicated freight corridors in India with a
1,760-kilometre Eastern corridor between Ludhiana
and Sonnagar, at an estimated cost of $3.9 billion,
and a 1,485-kilometre Western corridor between
Tughlakabad ICD and JNP/Mumbai, at an
estimated cost of $3.7 billion.

In 2008, among railway organizations that are
taking part in the Trans-Asian Railway project, the
largest traffic volumes were in China, India and the
Russian Federation. In 2008, Chinese Railways
carried 1.46 billion passengers (a 10.4% increase
over 2007), and Russian Railways 1.3 billion (a 1.2%
increase over 2007). In the freight sector, Chinese
Railways reported 1,442.4 billion ton-kilometres (a
4.5% increase over 2007), Indian Railways and
Russian Railways 2,420 billion (a 5% increase over
2007).

Not surprisingly rail investment levels are also
the highest in these three countries. In 2008,
Chinese Railways spent $51 billion on new line
construction. Meanwhile, Russian Railways
invested $13 billion and Indian Railways $7.7 billion
on developing their rail assets. However, changes in investment levels have been the highest in Turkey,
where between 2002 and 2008 the proportion
of state funding allocated to rail within the
transport ministry’s budget rose from 6 to 42%.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will also see an increase
following the government’s decision to double the
railway investment budget between 2007-2008 for
2008-2009.

Roads

The Intergovernmental Agreement on the
Asian Highway Network, which entered into force
on 4 July 2005, has now been signed by 28 member
States and acceded to by one member state. Of
these, 24 have become Parties to the Agreement.

Much progress has been made in developing
and upgrading the Asian Highway network. Around
10,000 kilometres of routes have been upgraded –
which between 2004 and 2006 reduced the
proportion of roads below the class III minimum
standard from 16 to 9%. The preliminary
assessment of the Asian Highway database (2008),
with data received from 20 countries, indicates that, over the period 2007-2008, an additional 10,000
kilometres of the Asian Highway have been
upgraded to higher standards including around
1,000 kilometres that have been upgraded to meet
the minimum standards. However, about 11,000
kilometres of roads – 8% of the network – still
needs to be upgraded to Class III or higher. Most
significantly, with the adoption of an Asian
Highway link connecting India and Bhutan, by the
3rd Meeting of the Working Group, the Asian
Highway network now connects to all the region’s
landlocked countries.

Figure 20.2 - Index of change in road density, Asia and the Pacific, 1990-latest available year

As motorization rates continue to rise, leading
to higher vehicle densities, there has also been an
increase in road traffic accidents. Globally, each
year such accidents kill an estimated 1.3 million
people and injure 50 million more. The situation is
likely to get worse: global road fatalities are forecast
to reach 1.9 million by 2020.

In 2007, the estimated road accident death rate
for the Asia-Pacific region was 17.3 per 100,000
population, which is slightly below the world
average of 18.8. The rates in North America and
Europe were much lower, at 13.4 and 10.1
respectively. The highest rates in Asia and the Pacific
were reported for Afghanistan, Cook Islands,
Kazakhstan, and the Islamic republic of Iran.

Asia’s death rates are very high when
considered alongside traffic density. With around
700,000 deaths in 2007, the region accounted for
more than half of the world’s road fatalities, even
though it only had 43% of the global vehicle
population. By 2020, around two thirds of the
world’s road traffic fatalities might be in the Asian
and Pacific region.

Container handling at ports

The number of containers handled by ports in
the Asia-Pacific region increased by 14.3% in 2007,
to 257 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
This compares with the increase of world container
port handling during the same period of 11.6%, to
478 million TEU. Since 2001, the world’s top five
container ports have been in Asia. In 2007, among
the world's top-25 container ports in terms of
throughput, 17 were in Asia. The Asian economies
handling the most container traffic were: China;
Singapore; Hong Kong, China; Japan; and the
Republic of Korea.

Energy consumption and CO2 emissions

The transport sector is a major consumer of
energy – particularly petroleum. It is also one of the
major emitters of carbon dioxide which is
contributing to global warming. In 2007, the world
road, rail and aviation sectors consumed 2,297
million tons of oil equivalent. Of that, the
Asia-Pacific region was responsible for only 25.1%,
576 million tons. The bulk of this in the region,
74.2% (427 million tons), was consumed by the
road sector, followed by aviation 11.6%, shipping
and others 9%, and rail 5.2%.

In 2007, the transport sector in Asia and the
Pacific was responsible for 1,642 million tons of
CO2 emissions, compared with 1,972 million tons
in North America and 1,050 million tons in Europe.
Compared with 2006, CO2 emissions from the
transport sector in the region increased by about
4.4%. Most of the emissions came from the road
sector which in 2007 released 1,323 million tons. In
contrast, emissions from aviation and railways were
221 and 67 million tons, respectively.

Railway freight (hundred thousand ton km)

Unit of measure of goods transport which represents the
transport of hundred thousand ton of goods by rail over a
distance of one kilometre. The distance to be covered is the
distance actually run on the considered network (the
national network of the reporting country). Aggregates:
Calculated by ESCAP as the sum of individual country
values. Source: World Bank, World Development
Indicators. Online database accessed on 16 September 2009.

Railway passenger kilometre (hundred thousand
passenger km)

Unit of measure representing the transport of hundred
thousand rail passengers by rail over a distance of one
kilometre. The distance to be taken into consideration
should be the distance actually run by the passenger on the
concerned network. Aggregates: Calculated by ESCAP as
the sum of individual country values. Source: World Bank,
World Development Indicators. Online database accessed
on 16 September 2009.

International marine containers handled (million TEU)

The data represent the volume of containers handled, i.e.
both as landed and shipped. The indicator covers
intermodal freight containers of 20 feet minimum length,
but excluding platform flats. Both international and
domestic traffic, and transshipped containers are counted
twice. The volume of containers is expressed in 20-foot
equivalent units (TEU). The TEU calculations are based
only on container length, not height. Aggregates:
Calculated by ESCAP as the sum of individual country
values. Source: World Bank, World Development
Indicators. Online database accessed on 16 September 2009.

Railway density (Km per 1,000 km2)

The length of rail lines divided by the land area expressed in
1,000 km2. Rail lines are the length of railway route available
for train service measured in kilometres, irrespective of the
number of parallel tracks. Aggregates: Calculated by
ESCAP using land area as weight. Source: World Bank,
World Development Indicators. Online database accessed
on 16 September 2009.

Roads density (Km per 1,000 km2)

The total road network divided by the land area. Total road
network includes motorways, highways, and main or
national roads, secondary or regional roads, and all other
roads measured in kilometres in a country. Aggregates:
Calculated by ESCAP using land area as weight. Missing
data for some countries and years have been imputed.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators.
Online database accessed on 16 September 2009.

Paved roads (% of total roads)

The share of roads surfaced with crushed stone (macadam)
and hydrocarbon binder or bituminized agents, concrete, or
cobblestones, expressed as a percentage of the length of all
roads. Aggregates: Calculated by ESCAP using land area as
weight. Missing data for some countries and years have been
imputed. Source: World Bank, World Development
Indicators. Online database accessed on 16 September 2009.

Asian highway, primary, class I to III, below class III
and total (kilometres)

The Asian Highway network consists of highway routes of
international importance within Asia, including highway
routes substantially crossing more than one subregion such
as: East and North-East Asia, South and South-West Asia,
South-East Asia and North and Central Asia; highway
routes within subregions including those connecting to
neighbouring subregions; and highway routes located within
member States which provide access to: (a) capitals; (b)
main industrial and agricultural centres; (c) major air, sea
and river ports; (d) major container terminals and depots;
and (e) major tourist attractions. The total Asian Highway
Network is divided into 5 major classes (primary, I, II, III,
below III) depending on roads design standards. Primary
class refers to access-controlled highways. Accesscontrolled
highways are used exclusively by automobiles.
Access to the access-controlled highways is at gradeseparated
interchanges only. Mopeds, bicycles and
pedestrians should not be allowed to enter the accesscontrolled
highway in order to ensure traffic safety and the
high running speed of automobiles. Class I refers to asphalt
or cement concrete roads with 4 or more lanes. Class II
refers to asphalt or cement concrete roads with 2 lanes.
Class III refers to double bituminous treated roads with 2
lanes and is regarded as the minimum desirable standard
Aggregates: Calculated by ESCAP as the sum of individual
country values. Source: ESCAP, Transport division. Online
database accessed on 10 November 2009.

Passenger cars in use (per 1,000 population)

The number of passenger cars, expressed per 1,000
population. Covers road motor vehicles designed for the
conveyance of passengers and seating not more than nine
persons including the driver. Taxies, jeep-type vehicles and
station wagons are included. Special-purpose vehicles, such
as two-wheeled or three-wheeled cycles or motorcycles,
trams, trolley-buses, ambulances, hearses, and military
vehicles operated by police or other governmental security
organizations, are excluded. Aggregates: Calculated by
ESCAP using total population as weight. Missing data for
some countries and years have been imputed Source:
World Bank, World Development Indicators. Online
database accessed on 16 September 2009.

Traffic accidents casualties (number, per 100,000
population)

The total number of deaths caused by traffic accidents
during a given period divided by the total number of
population during the same period, expressed per 100,000
population. Aggregates: Calculated by ESCAP using total
population as weight. Source: WHO, Global status report
on road safety. Online database accessed on 13 October
2009.

Energy consumption in the transport sector:
international and domestic aviation , road, rail, and
total (thousand tons of oil equivalent)

Energy consumption in the transport sector covers all
transport activity (in mobile engines) regardless of the
economic sector to which it is contributing [ISIC Divisions
60, 61 and 62]. It is divided into subsectors: International
aviation, domestic aviation, roads, rails, pipeline transport,
world marine bunkers, and domestic navigation.
Aggregates: Calculated by ESCAP as the sum of individual
country values. Source: International Energy Agency.
Online database accessed on 10 September 2009.

Represents the values of (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel
combustion by the transport sector. The emissions are
expressed in million tonnes of CO2 and calculated by
OECD using International Energy Agency (IEA) energy
databases and the default methods and emissions factors
from the Revised 1996 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas
Inventories. International and domestic aviation includes
emissions from aviation fuels delivered to aircraft for
international aviation bunker and domestic aviation -
commercial, private, agricultural, etc. It includes use for
purpose other than flying, e.g. bench testing of engines, but
not airline use of fuel for road transport; Roads: covers the
emissions arising from fuel use in road vehicles, including
the use of agricultural vehicles on highways; Rail: covers
emission from rail traffic, including industrial railways.
Aggregates: Calculated by ESCAP as the sum of individual
country values. Source: International Energy Agency.
Online database accessed on 5 November 2009.